"In recent years, the number of elderly who live alone buried under a mountain of garbage has surged. Some have dementia and some are physically unable to take out the garbage. It is these people who are the ones most likely to die alone."

Yoshinori Ishimi could hear a high-pitched whine coming from the apartment in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, he was about to enter. When he went inside, he saw black "mini-twister" clouds of flies.

The last tenant had been a 60-year-old divorced man whose body was not found until a month after he had died.

"Every time I encounter such scenes, I hesitate to step inside. But someone has to clean up these flats . . . and be professional about it," said Ishimi of Anshin Net, a cleaning service that is part of R-Cube Co. in Ota Ward, Tokyo.

The Nerima man's case was not unique, and such unnoticed departures are only expected to increase.

According to a report by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the number of single-person households is expected to rise from 14.46 million in 2005 to 18.24 million in 2030, or nearly 40 percent of all households.

With the growing number of single households in this graying nation, businesses specializing in dealing in what has been dubbed "lonely death" have become a fixture.

Anshin Net is one such example.

Founded in 2004, the company handles about 450 requests a year, about half of them dealing with cleaning out dwellings after the occupant has died.

The requests generally come from close relatives. But when people die alone and their corpses are not discovered for weeks or even months — the requests may also come from landlords, as well as more distant kin, because many people die childless and without a partner, Ishimi said.

"We receive about four to eight requests a month asking us to clean dwellings where the residents were found a week, a month, or, in extreme cases, a year after they passed away," Ishimi said.

Police process solitary deaths by carrying out autopsies and, if relatives can't be traced, municipalities cremate the body and inter the ashes in a shared grave, Ishimi said.

Ishimi and other specialist cleaners come in afterward and make dwellings clean again.

Although no figures are available, with the increasing media coverage about people dying lonely deaths, both the number of people engaged in this business and job requests have surged in the past two or three years, said Atsushi Takaesu, 38, an Okinawan who has run a special cleaning business in Kanagawa Prefecture since 2003.

"I had only about 10 cases a year about seven years ago. But this year, the number is likely to surpass 400. I received about 40 requests this June alone," said Takaesu, who recently published "Jiken Genba Seisonin ga Iku ("Here Comes a Crime Scene Cleaner"), a nonfiction book on his specialty of cleaning housing where people died lonely deaths, including suicides.

Takaesu said he is proud of his job but admits that at times it is heart-wrenching.

Pointing to a picture of a bathtub one-third full of a dark reddish liquid, Takaesu explained: "This is not ramen. This is a dead lady's body fluid and skin. I actually had to step into the bath to clean it."

Apart from the flies, maggots and pupae, crawling, sticking to windows and flying around, there is the hair of the dead, looking like a wig.

Also, bodily fluids and blood soak into tatami mats, and there is the stench of death that many in the business find difficult to totally remove, according to Takaesu.

"It is hard to pick up someone's hair with my own hands, but if you ask me whether I can do it, I can. But the appreciation I get after I clean up those rooms, totally removing the lingering smell of death, is the biggest thing that keeps me going," he said.

Ishimi of Anshin Net said people who die alone often share the same circumstances, and he strongly believes many can avoid this fate by changing their lifestyles.

"Many were men in their 50s or 60s, divorced, and with no job. They had not been in contact with their friends or families and they often were diabetic," Ishimi said, adding that when he goes inside their dwellings he often finds the curtains drawn and piles of empty food boxes from convenience stores, cans or bottles of alcohol, and insulin vials.

"It's sad. And to be honest with you, I ask them (the deceased), 'Why?' Because (in many cases) if they had changed their lifestyle, they could have avoided dying (in the way they did). They shut out the sunlight and fresh air with curtains, and isolated themselves from everyone," Ishimi said.

After seeing so many residences long after the occupant's death, Anshin Net is now shifting its focus on what it calls "welfare cleaning."

About half of the requests the company receives today are from care managers, helpers or sometimes municipalities asking for help cleaning the dwellings of elderly people who live alone and have huge garbage accumulations.

These people call first because they can't enter the elderly person's house unless the waste is removed, or, in some cases, following complaints made to municipalities from neighbors, Ishimi noted.

"In recent years, the number of elderly who live alone buried under a mountain of garbage has surged. Some have dementia and some are physically unable to take out the garbage. It is these people who are the ones most likely to die alone," Ishimi said.

"We want to minimize cases in which elderly people die alone. I believe cleaning their housing will act as a deterrence."

martin35

August 27, 2010, 10:13

Just what every old guy wants in his last moments ,,, a janitor to sweep up the Wheaties he spilled last week.
"Hello,, 911? can you send a sweeper squad to the kinda yellow house out on Sugar Hill?"

RG Coburn

August 28, 2010, 07:49

If you get a chance,rent the documentary "7 dumpsters and a body",about a pair of brothers who elect to clean up the apt. of their mother who died the same way.

kullavan

August 28, 2010, 07:52

I would venture to say that many members on the File Forum are insulin dependent diabetics, divorced or never married, and lie very lonely lives alone. I hate to think that this is the fate that awaits many of them, and maybe you and me, too, one faithful day.

Varangian

August 28, 2010, 10:56

Growing old is a curse.

Dying peacefully, surrounded by supportive loved-ones, is pure fantasy for 98% of Americans. We divorce, or never marry, and estrange the children we have, teaching them by example that old relatives are a burden best shuffled off and forgotten.

The overwhelming majority of us, even those with families, will die in agony from illness, alone in some nursing home or hospital, in a pool of our own shit.

The Norse had it right...to die of age or illness is to die with no dignity or honor.

V guy

August 28, 2010, 11:42

I am sure that the majority of members here are NOT the geriatric waste and refuse of society, as you claim. Jeeze, get a life. You describe the end of life in a totalitarian society.

Health issues exist for many, but most will live comfortably,to very old age ---on the backs of the downtrodden rotten minorites we pillaged and robbed and exploited--according to Obama anyway.
Of course living that long that also depends upon eliminating Obamacare--something the RINO's are plotting, NOT to to do.

You have to find this forum in the first place and the majority have at least one FAL. Not the ususal Fudd types you describe.

I never saw any old gunowner at the trap range or any race enthusiast or old car nut/ lonely or sitting in squalor. Some old racers die at the race track or drag strip.

Of course the forum is full of interested gearheads, gun tinkerers, political loudmouths, pilots, soldiers, shooters, collectors, and pretty cool guys in general.

Why would you think that this forum is a retirement home for dem types?
Who pissed you off? Your ex wife?

Heat

August 28, 2010, 11:50

I am in the unique postition to take care of my mother in her last yrs. She is striken with Alzheimers and is totally dependent on me. I am honored. At first I was overwhelmed as I have to do everything for her; bathing, feeding, clothing--you name it. But I dont want it any other way now. I witnessed older people in homes yrs ago, alone, ignored and sometimes abused. Not for my mom. She bent over backward for me, then bent even further. She and so many other parents are saints in my eyes. I hear of these lonely souls and it tears me up.
I dont know how much longer she has on this earth but I intend to take care of her till the end. I just wish we could motivate others to take care of their elderly. Too many look upon this task as a burden and it should not be. These are wonderful human beings who sacrificed so much for us. Many just want you to sit and hold their frail hands and talk sweetly to them.

kullavan

August 28, 2010, 12:00

Heat, you are a good and loving son. Reading your story brings tears to my eyes. You are repaying the love and care that she gave to you all of her life. What you are doing will serve as an example for your children so that you and your wife will also be cared for and loved in your old age.

As a Roman Catholic, I want to remember your Mother when I say my rosary.

I pray God's blessings for you, especially for patience, strength, and charity.

With a profound respect,

Pete

kullavan

August 28, 2010, 12:07

V guy, to answer your question, this article is posted because the reality of growing old is coming fast to most of us.

I venture to say that the majority of members on the FILE are middle age men with elderly parents. I hope that this article will remind them to think about their parents, and care for them, and show them love in their final years instead of ignoring them, especially if the parents live far away.

Finally, I want readers on the FORUM to think about their own old age and mortality which will come to most of us before we know it.

If you don't want to die lonely deaths alone, cultivate loving relationships with relatives, friends, and children before it is too late.

Heat

August 28, 2010, 12:56

Thanks Kullavan, I appreciate it!

kullavan

August 28, 2010, 17:49

FOR ROMAN CATHOLICS ON THE FAL FILE FORUM

I highly recommend a book entitled, "Preparation for Death", by Saint Alfonsus Liguori.

This life will end one day. This much is certain. As Roman Catholics, you know that you must prepare yourself for your final destiny. You can choose to go to heaven, or hell. The way you live your life is your preparation for your final destiny. This book will powerfully remind you of the reality of the "eternal fires of hell, torments, and sufferings" for the unrepented sins of your life, and your failure to amend your ways. The reality of eternal sufferings without end. The purification of Purgatory. Finally, the everlasting joy of serving God in paradise forever.

You can find this book from a variety of sources. Check with your local library, Amazon.com, or Tan Books.

Prayerfully, I hope to see most of you on the other side. Hopefully and prayerfully, we will see each other in heaven.

Firestarter

August 29, 2010, 10:59

Originally posted by Heat
I am in the unique postition to take care of my mother in her last yrs. She is striken with Alzheimers and is totally dependent on me. I am honored. At first I was overwhelmed as I have to do everything for her; bathing, feeding, clothing--you name it. But I dont want it any other way now. I witnessed older people in homes yrs ago, alone, ignored and sometimes abused. Not for my mom. She bent over backward for me, then bent even further. She and so many other parents are saints in my eyes. I hear of these lonely souls and it tears me up.
I dont know how much longer she has on this earth but I intend to take care of her till the end. I just wish we could motivate others to take care of their elderly. Too many look upon this task as a burden and it should not be. These are wonderful human beings who sacrificed so much for us. Many just want you to sit and hold their frail hands and talk sweetly to them.

Heat you may be bald, fat, and stupid and we have had harsh words before as well.

However, you just made me rethink the character that you have! May God bless you and your mother! My grandmother passed away from Alzheimers and it is a debilitating disease. Your mom is truly fortunate to have you for a son! :bow:

2barearms

August 29, 2010, 14:24

Originally posted by Firestarter

Heat you may be bald, fat, and stupid and we have had harsh words before as well.

However, you just made me rethink the character that you have! May God bless you and your mother! My grandmother passed away from Alzheimers and it is a debilitating disease. Your mom is truly fortunate to have you for a son! :bow:

One guy Heat the other guy Firestarter, it would make sense there would
be friction!:eek:

Kullavan

While you are correct about one issue, most members here are probably
at least 40 and most are 50+. Look at the money many of us spend here,
20somethings don't generally have this much cash available. I suspect
the vast majority here are also happily married and tend to be conservative.
I'm sure here like in the rest of our sphere there are folks here who cling
to their computers for their companionship and little contact with those around them. I've been helping my wife's parents by paying their house
note to help cover their prescription costs and will probably be faced with
having to take them in the near term.Count your blessings and give what
you can to help your family.

kullavan

August 29, 2010, 18:05

2barearms
Thank you for sharing your life with us. I hope that there are more men and women like you.